The Elements of a Marketable Customer Profile

For restaurants not using data to drive their operational, marketing and promotional campaigns, they essentially are gambling on their own opinion.

A manager may think he or she knows what their customers prefer and want from their dining experiences, but customers are vastly different. Basing a decision on a hunch can be devastating to your marketing results and your restaurant's bottom line.

A powerful solution for this issue is to create customer segments to which you can optimize your marketing efforts. Customer segments should be based upon typical demographic and behavior data from your actual customers. This leads to smarter business decisions and more targeted marketing campaigns.

But it takes data to do this - comprehensive, reliable and accurate data.

Fortunately, restaurants now have access to this type of detailed information about their customers through the use of WiFi marketing and analytics platforms like Bloom Intelligence. Here are some of the customer profile data points you'll be able to see, sort, filter and use to make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Demographic Data

Think of these data points as the statistical measures that separate all of us from each other. They include age, gender, career, marital status, whether they have children, and the zip code where they live. Income level also would fall into the demographics category.

It’s already easy to see how data from just these basic demographics can provide a great advantage. A marketing campaign directed at 20-something single women living in an urban environment is going to be a lot different than one directed at a 50-year-old father of three living in the suburbs.

By segmenting your customers into groups like this, you can send individual marketing campaigns to each group that will resonate more clearly with them, instead of sending a single mass-message to your entire customer list.

Psychographic Data

This is an area that concerns itself with people’s tastes and opinions, such as in beverages or music. It also measures their personality traits, lifestyle choices, values, and the hobbies that they spend their free time on (perhaps one of the biggest indicators of what people really like).

This type of data allows restaurateurs to aim their marketing efforts at very specific segments with traits that make them likely to buy a certain product or service. For instance, if you know that a customer does not prefer alcoholic beverages, you could make a point not to waste marketing dollars by sending them an alcoholic drink promotion.

Geographic Data

Does where you live say something about who you are? Definitely, if you are old enough to have chosen where you live. It also allows restaurants to tailor marketing messages based on location. This is especially of use for restaurants with multiple locations.

People tend to frequent restaurants in close proximity to their homes. If one of your locations, for instance, is lacking in lunchtime visitors you could send a lunchtime promotion to customers who live in that specific area.

Behavioral Data

This is where some of the most valuable data can be found. By learning about your individual customers' behavior, you reach another, much deeper level at which you can tailor your marketing messages.

This data includes details about customer loyalty to your business, frequency of visits, and amount of money spent per average visit.

But WiFi analytics can delve deeper, offering insight into such issues as:

Popular entry and exit times

Favorite visit times

Favorite visit days

Dwell Times and more

All this information can go toward creating even more targeted marketing efforts, which leads to more success with campaigns. It also can help you develop customer segments that capture the “ideal audience” for your restaurant. Marketing campaigns can then be created around each group.

Creating customer profiles simply leads to better results in marketing and more customers in your seats. The ability to tailor messages to specific customer needs - and send them relevant information - is a powerful tool, and necessary in today's competitive marketplace. It can elevate your marketing to a more sophisticated level, save on marketing costs, and provide a welcome edge on the competition.

To learn more about the value of customer profiles, click on the banner below, or click here to schedule a free demonstration.